Local

St. Louis Developers Rejoice As Missouri Legislature’s Clock Runs Out

June 16, 2013 8:46 AM

If you drive past the Old Courthouse downtown you’ll notice that workers are starting to take down the scaffolding that has completely surrounded the historic structure for more than a year. Building Restoration Co. out of St. Paul Minnesota undertook the $3.47 million project to replace more than 500 limestone cornice stones which had stood up to a century-and-a-half of the St. Louis blistering summer, freezing winter cycle. The Old Courthouse, which among other things served as the site of the ground-breaking Dred Scott decision, now looks much like it did when it was completed in 1862 during the U.S. Civil War, although work on the building had begun 23 years earlier in 1839. (KMOX/Brett Blume)

Related Tags:

Election Returns

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – After all the phone calls, letters and trips to the Capitol, St. Louis developers are now celebrating that Missouri legislators did not get around to cutting historic tax credits.

“I can’t emphasize enough how much this grassroots effort has meant in terms of the result that we’ve now achieved,” says Jerry Schlichter, who wrote the original historic tax credits legislation in 1988.

He says the Senate’s proposal, which would have cut the credits by more than 50 percent, was much more severe than the House’s.

Schlichter says if cuts took place it would have made the hassle of renovating a building not worth it for developers.

“There is no way that developers and home-owners and others are going to get involved in caring, buying, and holding a building and paying insurance, taxes and maintenance and accountants fees and architects fees, if they may or may not get the credit that’s needed to make it work,” he says.

Supporters credit the program with creating 43,000 jobs and fueling $7 billion in private investments, as well as the make-over of downtown St. Louis.